Christmas Video Call

From Ethan to his parents: Dec 29, 2014

Lots of babies around Grandma Howard's house but I bet she loved it :)  It was really great seeing everyone together having a good time. It really doesn't seem like much has changed besides the size of all the kids and the voice of  Jaden ( 14 yr old cousin). He is becoming mature and that's weird!! It was crazy seeing how big Jillian (10 yr old cousin) and Ally (12 yr old cousin) are. WOW! But seems like everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves and catching fish every time you went out that's pretty good! 

Thanks for all the pictures of stuff it really hits home for me.

Lunch with the Silcocks was great! Just a couple of hours but Elder Te'o and I got to sing some songs and lead people in singing the 12 days of Christmas and other songs. It was pretty fun!  New years we will get together as a district and play games, a lot like Halloween. Transfers are Jan. 7th! I hope I stay at least another transfer because we are rebooting all the ward mission plans and working on a missionary fireside where Elder Te'o and I will sing. So I hope I stay!

The Spirit is invited by Music!

From Ethan: Mon, Dec 22, 2014 1:13 pm

It is still brown and down in Burley, ID with NO SNOW!!  I don't want a brown Christmas but I guess everywhere back home there isn't any snow. Boy, that's sad. Maybe I'll have to get on the roof and do a little snow dance to liven up the skies!

As you probably guessed from the title of this letter, music has been a huge factor in our missionary work this past week. Since Elder Te'o and I both love music we put together a couple of arrangements! For our Mission Conference and a ward Christmas party we sang an arrangement of "Savior Redeemer of my Soul." This is a video of our performance of it at our Mission Conference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3JwvTshDYA&feature=youtu.be   In Sacrament Meeting yesterday we sang "All Glory Be to Christ" by King's Kaleidoscope.  (Look it up! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGUq4fdocuI). For me, music is one of those things that invites the spirit the most.  Martin Luther said "Beautiful music is the art of the prophets that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us."  Ludwig Van Beethoven said "Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy."  I really think that Heavenly Father can influence people through music and help them return back to him.

 We have really fun plans set up for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve we are having a Mexican fiesta with one of the awesome families in our ward! They are straight up from Mexico so it should be super authentic Mexican food. Christmas day our main man, Dave Silcock from Salmon, is coming down to spend the day with us and his family! It'll be awesome to catch up with him and spend a good uplifting day with them.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

~ Elder Ethan Howard

Teaching with Parables

From Ethan: Mon, Dec 8, 2014 1:09 pm                  

Boy oh boy I have been having such a fun time the past week that it all seems like a blur!  Time is passing like a touchdown throw from Payton Manning! Serving again with Elder Te'o is more fun than ever.  We both know each other’s teaching styles and personality so it makes things quite easy! 

We had some awesome teaching opportunities with some parables this week. I finally understand why Jesus Christ used so many parables when teaching the multitudes. They are so easy to mold and teach to people’s needs. Two of my favorite parables are the parable of the sower (Matt 13:3-9) and the Pearl of great price (Matt 13:45-46).  We were able to share the first parable with the Millspaugh's this week.  We likened ourselves to the ground. To make our ground "good ground", we need to do the simple little things in our everyday life like praying, giving service, reading scriptures and going to church! Once our ground is "good ground", we then water our seed planted in that ground by being baptized and showing forth our faith! That is how we make sure the seed of our testimony will flourish and grow into a big tree!

The youth of the Unity 2nd ward went to the temple this week to perform baptisms for the dead.  Since it was Salena's first time attending the temple, we got permission to go.  Before we went to the temple we all went to Golden Corral, a buffet, and then together started a fast for missionary work! :) That is a bomb idea and I know it'll provide us more opportunities to share the gospel. But I love going to the temple to perform ordinances for people who have passed on. When the day of Resurrection comes we will have the opportunity to meet those that we performed the ordinances for. I think that was a side thought that Paul, the early Apostle had when he said "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?"(1 Corinthians 15:29). It is an amazing a very humbling experience.

I love the Christmas season and all the joy that it brings into people’s lives :) Christmas music is the best.  Elder Te'o and I love to play guitar and piano and sing Christmas songs for people. It's just one of those talents that I get to share with people to help lift their spirits. Hope you all find ways to serve others and share your talents with them! 

Here is a picture of Elder Te'o and I swaggin' those vests!

-Elder Howard

Thanksgiving in Gratitude

From Ethan: Mon, Dec 1, 2014 1:12 pm

 Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Well this is the second Thanksgiving I have had with Elder Te'o! Last year up in Salmon and now here in Burley. We ate a ton! Also road a tandem bike (two-seater bike), played chimes with a family, colored and drew turkeys and also played basketball to work off all the fat! Being here in Idaho we are super blessed with all that the people provide for us. Lemme tell you we don't go hungry! (Don't worry mom). Honestly I am so grateful for all the people out here in Idaho that take care of us missionaries. We feel the love from all of our ward members and even people not of our faith because they know that our purpose is to invite others unto Christ and to help people live better lives.

We had a super fun time with the Heisingers this week because we got to have dinner with them! We shared with them the "He is the Gift" initiative that the church is doing this Christmas season. I really love this video and the message that is shared because it focuses Jesus Christ at the center of Christmas as it should always be! Without Christ, "Christ"mas wouldn't even exist and without Him none of us would be able to return to live with our Father in Heaven. That is why He is the greatest gift of them all :) Here is the website to see the video and the #ShareTheGift! http://www.mormon.org/christmas

With the holidays it was a little hard to see people because of family in town and other things but we are expecting this week to visit everyone we can and to share the simple, yet amazing message of Jesus Christ :) Tis' the Season!! Enjoy the first bit of the Christmas Season everyone!

-Love, Elder Howard

Salena's Baptism and the Return of Elder Te'o!

From Ethan: Mon, Nov 24, 2014 11:34 am

It's been an awesome week here in Burley Unity!! Salena was baptized :) Like the whole ward was there to support her and she brought a bunch of her friends, too! It was a very spiritual service with all the people there to support her.  The talks that were given were great! Stake Conference was this weekend so Salena will be confirmed on November 30th.

You've probably been wondering why the title has "The Return of Elder Te'o" in it. Transfers are this week and I am getting Elder Te'o as my companion again!!!!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS I cannot even hold in my excitement and happiness!! Elder Te'o and I served together one year ago in Salmon for only 5 weeks.  We are the best of buds! We are very similar, can teach together super well, both love to work and to have fun. Also another funny thing, Elder Bagley is getting transferred up to Salmon! I get to give him a good snapshot of Salmon before he goes there :) It's so Exciting! Elder Te'o and I are going to tear it up in Burley Unity!!

We had another great lesson with the Heisingers this week. Ron has made up his mind that he believes in the core principles of the gospel so he is all good to go! Shirley is taking her time in trying to understand all the doctrine before making a decision to join the church.  We know that she will be super concrete when she makes the decision. She is really searching it out through the spirit.

Exciting things are happening! This next transfer is going to be incredibly awesome! 

~Elder Howard

It's been a rollercoaster couple of weeks... but hey it snowed!

From Ethan: Mon, Nov 17, 2014 11:52 am

Well I assume the title explains a little bit of how we have been feeling the past couple weeks. Two steps forward and then two steps back. At least this week was a "two steps forward" week!  We had some really awesome lessons and people committed to pray about Heavenly Father’s will for them.

Salena Martinez is looking forward to getting baptized this Saturday Nov. 22^nd.  She has asked me to perform the ordinance for her! I can really see how God guided us to meet her when she was ready and open to hearing the restored gospel. Also we have felt the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the truthfulness of the lessons and she recognized it too! She is an awesome young lady :)

We had a couple of spiritual lessons with Ron and Shirley Hiesinger and Shawn and Casi Millspaugh.  Ron, Shirley and Casi have been coming and participating at church for the last 3 months.  They all feel deep down that the gospel can help them in their lives and bring them closer to God and Christ. With the Heisingers we focused on how through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we overcome physical and spiritual death. The way we can access the Atonement is to have faith in Jesus Christ, repent, be baptized in the name of Christ and receive the Holy Ghost.  We invited Ron and Shirley to pray to know whether Dec. 6th is the day for them to be baptized. Ron said the closing prayer and he truly asked sincerely if this was the right path for them! The spirit was like BOOM, super strong right then.  We’ll see what they do this next week!

With the Millspaugh's we focused on all the blessings that the gospel can bring to us. We wrote a super long list on a white board! They both know that they need to be baptized. We asked them two questions, "How have you seen the gospel bless the lives of those around you?" and "What blessings await you in the future?" I could see in their eyes that they knew this is the right thing for them. They said they would ponder and discuss our invitation to be baptized on Dec 22^nd. The Millspaugh's daughter, Bailey (16), was baptized in August. They have seen how much the gospel has changed her life for the better so they have an eye witness! I really hope they feel in their hearts the desire to commit their lives to our Lord.

So there are some sweet things that are happening here with the people we love a lot :) Not everything is butterflies and daisies though. We are having some struggles with Seth Graham and the Watterson's. They aren't showing as much commitment as we would hope but slowly they are changing their lives to better follow Jesus Christ! We pray for them every day but we cannot override their personal agency. It's all about making our own choices for good and committing ourselves to follow our Savior Jesus Christ.

I brought the MinneSNOWta to Idaho!! It snowed here really really early in the season and there was quite a bit! That's it! God bless you all and enjoy the Holiday's! Share God's love by smiling to everyone you meet :)

-Elder Howard

Another Week, More success!

From Ethan: Mon, Nov 10, 2014 12:07 pm

Hello, hello everybody! This week went incredibly fast.  It seems like I was right here writing you just a couple moments ago.  I guess the saying stands true, "Time flies when you are having fun." :) We are continuing to see the hearts of people come closer to God and our Savior Jesus Christ. 

We had an awesome opportunity to help an older lady in the ward do some house work! Mellie Morgan, originally from Australia, married a man who served his mission there, then moved here to the USA. She has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever seen! It shows through her work as a mother and care taker. One of her sons, upper thirties, suffers from a terrible thing called Crones disease. It is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that makes it hard to eat anything and causes pain and severe weight loss. Mellie spends all of her time taking care of her son and the house. She can't get everything done so that's where we came in! We were able to help clean her whole kitchen and organize her house which has been cluttered for years. It might seem like a little thing but I know Mellie really appreciated it. To adhere to the counsel of King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon, "when ye are in the service of your fellowbeings ye are only in the service of your God." (Mosiah 2:17"). I know that to be true by the feelings of joy and happiness while giving service to other people. I have a thought about service and why it brings happiness. Happiness comes from the desires of our heart to do good continually.

We are looking forward to the next couple weeks where we can see Seth Graham and Salena put their faith forward and enter into the covenant of baptism. Seth is struggling a little bit with living situations, so we are going to let all that settle down before making this commitment, but Salena is right on steady for Nov. 22nd! They are both experiencing the joy of having the gospel at the center of their hearts and that is what it is all about! Our Father in Heaven told Moses, "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man," (Moses 1:39) which comes through giving your heart to our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ.

-Elder Howard (ehoward@myldsmail.net)